Project Neptune
by FiveAlarmFire
Summary: The year is 2278 and Earth is dying. After countless generations abused the 'nearly infinite' resources of the planet, people discovered their planetary home was not so infinitely abundant after all. Too little too late, the people of Earth tried to change their consumption of the resources and begin being more environmentally conscious, but that only delayed the inevitable.
1. Chapter 1

The one thing consistent in life is that time will always march on regardless of what happens around us and on the Earth.

In the year 2189, renowned scientist Kristoff Vlena made the announcement that heralded the end of the world, literally. Vlena claimed the planet would run dry of resources by the year 2300 at the current rate of consumption and from the extensive damage to the environment, the earth would no longer be able to sustain life. The scientific community was mostly skeptical of this claim as hundreds of false apocalypse claims had run their course over the hundreds upon hundreds of years of recorded history. After so many apocalypses were proven false, this newest announcement went largely unnoticed by the occupants of Earth.

By 2199, several years after the announcement of the planet's dying resources, scientists had been researching and testing Vlena's findings and began to discover the truth of his work. Findings that matched the original data began to leak across the internet and across the world.

This news and these findings sent a large portion of the world into an apocalyptic frenzy. Riots and chaos reigned across the earth to such an extent that it forced nearly every civilized government into a state of martial law.

After several weeks, even into months, of chaos, life began to settle down and take on new directions: Into the new century, many people began to look to the stars to emigrate from the Earth and find a new home to reside while others began to look for ways to counteract the loss of resources, such as alternative, renewable sources of fuel and energy. This general shift in the global agenda was unparalleled and never before seen in history. Over the next 50 years, the search and hunt for ways to keep the Earth alive failed. The damage to the environment was too extensive and the resources were simply being used up at far too rapid of a pace to maintain life.

However, the search for a new home was turning up several potentially viable options and many groups across the world had begun crafting space vessels to begin the journey towards these places.

In 2268, one of these teams, a large group working on a project codenamed NEPTUNE, was having tremendous success designing and crafting the largest spaceship ever conceived.

A company called Stormlord Incorporated had hired nearly 300 people from varied walks of life, from the world's most renowned engineers and astrophysicists to manual laborers working on the actual construction to farmers and agriculturists to grow and maintain the food and water needed for sustaining life in an effort to finish the creation and the particulars of NEPTUNE.

Now, with the estimated time for the world to basically collapse less than 50 years away, the team has whipped themselves in a frenzy to finish building NEPTUNE and Stormlord has hired more than a two hundred new workers, scientists, and leaders in all fields to escape the world before the resources needed to create the colossal ship dried up and could no longer be found.

The year is 2278 and Earth is dying. After countless generations abused the 'nearly infinite' resources of the planet, people discovered their planetary home was not so infinitely abundant after all. Too little too late, the people of Earth tried to change their consumption of the resources and begin being more environmentally conscious, but that only delayed the inevitable.

Now, there are more than 500 people working aboard Neptune racing to finish before the impending death of Earth.

"Maxwell, pull up the files we've compiled on the latest prototype." Skye asked while examining vials of liquid on her desk. "I'm looking for correlations between chemicals B82 and D39."

"Yes, Skye." The male artificial intelligence responded quickly.

After several moments of silence, she asked, "Anything yet?"

"There are no obvious correlations between B82 and D39." Returned Maxwell.

"Keep looking, focus on B versus D specifically." With that, Skye returned to her work. "Oh and Max, call Dr. Gravian for me, please."

"Yes, Skye." The computer chimed and went silent.

_One of these days, I'm going to figure this out. _She leaned over her notes and studied her design for the ship's oxygen supply.

Skye had been working on Project Neptune for more than a year now. She graduated high school by the age of 14 in 2272 and skipped the majority of college with grades so high her professors believed her the world's next academic prodigy. She went on to become the top of her biochemical class when she graduated valedictorian at John Hopkins University, arguably the most difficult university for her chosen field, in 2274, and re-enrolled in MIT, the third most difficult, and graduated there as valedictorian in 2276. She didn't go to GIT in Georgia only because they wouldn't allow her advanced placement tests.

An unquestionably talented chemist, she was often described even at the age of 20 as the world's most gifted biochemist and the leading scientist in her field, thus easily landing her in Project Neptune as after receiving her second Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 2278, she was picked up by Stormlord less than two months later and had been working on Neptune since.

Her team was tasked with the job of creating a device that can either supply breathable air or take oxygen deficient air and respirate it into a suitable supply canister. Her team of eight people had decided on trying, lately, to design a machine that would essentially speed up the process of photosynthesis without having the plants to filter the carbon dioxide.

The current dilemma she was facing was filtering hydrogen from vaporized hydrogen dioxide to create breathable air that could be later introduced to the ship's oxygen supply.

Creating pure oxygen was a simple task, but breathing pure oxygen and having a ship full of people suffering from hyper-oxia was not a thing she wanted to have…given that they would all die.

Her current task was finding a way to take pure oxygen, mix it with nitrogen to make a supply of oxygen that could be breathed by anyone without risk.

A chime from her door brought her out of her trance. "Yes?" she called.

"You sent for me, Skye?" came a male voice.

"Ah, Max, please let Dr. Coulson in." She requested.

The door slid open and the handsome man strode in. "Good evening."

"Phil, thanks for coming."

"Of course, any opportunity to see a beautiful lady, all the better when requested." He smiled.

She laughed. "I need your advice. I'm having trouble finding a way to nitrogenize the oxygen supply. I've found a combination using B08 and N12, but the nitrogen isn't pure enough to be used in the oxygen supply and I don't have any ways to filter it."

He walked over to her and began examining her computer screen. "Astra, transfer to the computer."

A soft chime heralded a female voice ringing out from the computer. "Greetings, Doctor."

"Hello, Astra." She smiled. "We haven't spoken in some time."

"You are correct, but Maxwell has been sending me updates on your device. I hope Phil and I are able to be of assistance."

Skye blinked in surprise. "Has he?"

Phil picked up, "Well, not me specifically, but Astra. She and I have taken the liberty to start testing a process involving algae soaked in chemicals to create pure nitrogen. We may have stumbled upon a modicum of success using D39 and N67. We soaked the algae in a solution of the two and found that the solution essentially burns the algae and produces a large amount of nitrogen. We haven't had time lately to test the product of the test, so it may not be pure either." Phil contributed.

"Would you be kind enough to send me your findings and research so I can look over it?"

"Of course, Astra transfer all of our information on the tests to Maxwell."

"There's no need. I've already compiled the data for further examination." Maxwell rang out.

"It seems your AI isn't the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve." Phil elbowed her good-naturedly.

"Shame, shame, using our AI's friendship to work on my theories." She jabbed playfully, "I've been using D39 correlatively with a series of chemicals from our B list, but I haven't been able to make anything worthwhile come of it." She laughed again. "Ah, but it is good to see you. I'm relieved to get a fresh perspective on this."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say that, because the big bosses are sending a new hire your direction this evening, so you should get fresh perspective up to your eyeballs." He grinned good-naturedly.

Skye rolled her eyes. "Another rookie? After what happened with Jessica, you would think they would send the newbies your way."

"Still holdin' onto that, eh? You gotta learn to let go."

"She was wrong, Phil. I won't budge on that. Her mistakes would have cost Neptune dearly, perhaps even lost lives."

Phil stood straight from his position and leaned against the wall. "Times change, Skye. Our project is still behind schedule and pressure from the Commander means it's time for results."

"Who is the kid?" Skye asked.

"His name is Leopold. He's fresh out of some college in the middle of nowhere nobody ever heard of. Apparently he has a knack for being a chemist and impressed somebody high enough that makes decisions that he caught the last slot in the Chemist's Crew."

"Sounds…promising." she said dryly.

"Yeah, well, we need the help and you need another set of eyes. You're starting to not trust your own."

"Your thoughtfulness is always appreciated." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Phil turned and started walking towards the door. "The Commander is sending you a machinist to help with building any devices you need. His name is Grant Ward and he's spoken very highly of in the field. He'll come by this evening around 7."

"Thank you for coming, Phil, and you as well, Astra."

"Anytime. Astra, return to mobile."

A soft chime sounded her compliance.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Au revoir, Astra."

Leopold found himself at the bottom of the Cloudsong Module standing in front of a very solid looking metal door with Laboratory emblazoned on the front.

Having never been very good with social situations, he found himself with a case of the nerves. _My future boss could be on the other side of that door… _

Taking a moment, he steeled himself and pushed the button on the console next to the door to announce his arrival.

A chime sounded on the inside of the room followed shortly by a "Come" from a female sounding voice. Leopold opened the door and stepped as confidently as he could into the room. He spoke as his eye's searched for the source of the voice. "Good day, my name is Leopo…" he trailed off as his eye's met the figure of what he perceived as the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Standing at the table was a woman with black hair with a long strand of bright green offsetting the appearance of natural color. Her matching bright green eyes pierced him as he struggled to find his speech.

"Leopo? Bizarre name. Welcome to Cloudsong, my name is Skye." Skye replied with a smile.

"Oh, no…sorry… My name is, uh, Leo, uh, pold. My friends call me…Fitz…" He was babbling and he knew it. His face flushed red in embarrassment.

"Calm down, it's just me and I promise not to bite…" she let her voice trail off to get his attention. As he looked up, she finished by saying "hard." And winking at him.

His face flushed even more scarlet as he desperately glanced around the lab for something to focus his attention on.

Skye laughed. "Relax, Fitz, I'm just messing with you. I've heard you're a pretty good chemist and I have to admit I'm looking forward to working with you, I've been told lately that I need more fresh perspective on things."

"You heard 'I'm' pretty good?! A double Ph.D. by 19 is far more impressive than anything I've done, let me tell you."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I was bored, what can I say." Fitz just gaped at her.

"Anyway," she continued, "we're working on a process here to develop a sustainable oxygen supply for the Neptune Project. Your room is over in the Phoenix Module, so head that way and ask for Bobbi when you get there, she'll help you get sorted to your room. Come back to Cloudsong this evening around 7 and we'll get your work area and stuff taken care of."

"It was…a pleasure meeting you..." Fitz blushed again.

Skye laughed, "Go on before you ramble yourself into a wall or something." The sound of her happy laughter chased him out of the room as he walked out.

_She hates me… _he thought dejectedly as he walked towards the Phoenix Module. _She probably thinks I'm a bloody idiot…_

_ "_He's not so bad, Max. We might make a proper scientist out of this one." She said to the empty room.

"I'm sure your approval means the world to him." Came Max's ever steady, calm voice.

"You know, I know you're an AI, but I secretly think you've developed sarcasm somewhere along the line."

"I've no idea what you mean, of course."

"Of course you don't. While I'm thinking about it, we need to have a talk about you sending my research to other AIs without my consent…"


	2. Chapter 2

Skye found herself in Eclipse later that night. One of only two bars in the area, the owner, Liam, was planning to make his living offering a place for the crew of the Neptune to unwind after a long shift on the ship. The inn, squirreled away in a corner of the construction complex, was a pleasantly spacious place, easily able to hold 100 members of Neptune's crew. Inside was decorated with several dozen freestanding tables, as well as lined with booths along the walls. It was comfortably dark, giving a minor sense of privacy, yet lit enough that no accidents befell its patrons. Music was playing during open hours, with live music every Friday and Saturday night.

As Skye continued to nurse an ever diminishing tequila sunrise, she seemed to be studying the wood on the bar itself. _Why didn't he show? I still need that centrifuge replaced to keep studying Phil's experiment…_ She harrumphed softly at her glass. _Just wait until tomorrow…_

"Liam, another when you have a sec." she muttered at the smiling bartender.

"I'll pay for this one. A pretty lady should never drink alone, I think." Said a voice over her shoulder.

"You should go find a pretty lady, then." She replied dryly.

"So is it lack of self-esteem or no desire for company?" He pressed on.

"What do you think?"

"I think you're waiting for someone to get past a façade of a tough exterior and talk."

She turned around in her chair, "Listen, pal, I appreciate your obvious…" she paused as her eyes glanced up momentarily, taking the sight of him in. "…Confidence, so don't take this personally, I'm just not the talkative type."

"Perhaps not talkative, but definitely interested goin' by that look in your eyes." He said smugly.

Skye laughed. "You sure don't lack nerve."

"Tell ya what, let me buy you a drink and we'll play a game of pool. If you still don't want anything to do with me, I'll leave in peace, deal?"

Skye thought about it for a moment. _He IS alright to look at…_ "Alright, fine. Only cause I don't want to bruise your guy ego or whatever" her hands waved around his body.

The man laughed, "Oh, you're so considerate. You're my hero now, you know."

"Well I should be!"

The man looked serious for a moment, "You know what, you're right…"

Skye looked at him quizzically. "Huh?"

"I'm going to go to my bunk tonight and build a small idol so I can be reminded every day that you're so merciful to me." He laughed loudly.

"Jerk! Are you serious right now?!" She hit him playfully as she racked the pool balls. "I'm breaking, it'll give me a chance to imagine your head as the cue ball."

"Oh, that's so original." He chuckled.

"I'm Skye, by the way." She said properly.

"I'm Emeric."

"Well, Emeric, I hope you're ready for an ass beating, cause I've had a frustrating day and I'm not in the mood for mercy." She said with more confidence then she actually felt, clearly feeling the effects of her liquid courage.  
***

Phil was among the small group gathered in the navigation section of the command module that evening. As the leading astrophysicist, he was in command of the crew that had designed and implemented the critically important systems that would lead the Neptune on its voyage across space.

As late as it might have been, Phil's crew had insisted that he come and inspect the day's work and insure that the systems were installed successfully. They would, of course, be tested rigorously and thoroughly over the coming days, weeks, and even months to guarantee that they wouldn't fail after leaving their dying planetary home, but the crew were rather proud of their accomplishments for the day and each were looking for opportunity for advancement, which came by way of recommendation from their crew chief to the higher ups in Stormlord given that their reviews were coming up in the next few weeks.

"If you look here, you'll see I even have a station designed solely for spectrographics. Our journey shouldn't prevent you from taking your chance to enjoy one of your passions in life." Amanda said.

_Clever trying to use something like this._ He laughed to himself. "It's well done and I appreciate the sentiment."

"If you would come here, you can see that some of us prefer to actually accomplish something to the benefit of the ship as a whole instead of trying to butter up our superiors." Rachel countered. As she showed him through what she had done, Phil couldn't help but think of how she was right. _I have to do what's right for the Neptune, not what I want to do myself._

A few minutes later, Phil pulled the pair together for a quick rundown of his thoughts.

"I appreciate the work you've both done today. Rachel, your stations are exceptionally well done and thought out. We're sure to benefit from the hard work you've done on these over the last few weeks and I'm glad you were able to have them finished successfully. Amanda, your work has also been superb, but taking time out to design a station for my benefit as a way to continue a hobby is unnecessary. We will keep it, as it's already done and I'd hate to see it go to waste, but be sure to focus your efforts moving forward on the benefit of the ship as a whole."

Amanda's face flushed red in embarrassment and she turned quickly to walk away. Her muttering voice under her breath caught Phil's attention. "Was there something you wanted to say Amanda?" he asked.

She turned and with a clear look of anger, she said "No. Of course not, _Doctor_ Coulson." Her voice dripping with sarcasm, she continued, "If you'll allow me, I have projects elsewhere that could use my attention?"

Phil considered calling her on her attitude, but decided the best course of action would be to approach her when Rachel wasn't around. Besides, it had been a long day, he thought, and he could use a break. "As you wish, see you tomorrow morning."

He turned to Rachel. "Your work today really has been exceptional. This design is brilliant, what made you think of it?"

"Well, I simply realized we needed a way to plot our course moving forward rather than using digital computers, I thought it would be better for navigation if we had a 3d model of our course instead." She said smiling, trying to mask her excitement.

"An excellent idea. I know you're aware your yearly review is due, I believe, at the end of the month. Would you be interested, possibly, in leading a crew of your own?" he asked.

Her eyes grew wide and her smile couldn't be contained. "Would I!? I'd be honored, Dr. Coulson!" She exclaimed.

"Well, I will put in a good word on your behalf with our bosses, but I can'-…" His voice was drowned out by a deep explosion nearby.

Both jumped involuntarily at the noise and ran towards the door. Walking into the main hallway, they turned and saw smoke coming from around the corner far down the path. Running down to the corner, Phil arrived first, turning quickly to catch Rachel and prevent her from seeing what lay before him. "Rachel, don't!" He said quickly. She stopped, shaking. "Go and find Skye and have her come here as quickly as you can, ok?" She stood frozen looking at the smoke billowing behind Phil. "Run and find Skye. NOW!" He roared at her. She turned quickly and sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her.

Phil turned and viewed the scene before him. On her back lay Amanda half out of a pile of rubble and seemingly missing an arm, but what kept Phil from trying to help her was the pool of various bubbling chemicals she was laying in as the room she had been standing next to was none other than Cloudsong Labs.

An hour and several games of pool later, Skye was still playing and laughing with Emeric.

"Alright, so you're pretty good." She finally admitted.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to be as good. What's the score now?" he asked.

"I think we've both won 3."

"Hmm, a tie breaker then! How bout we make it interesting?" He was smiling.

"What'd you have in mind?" She asked curiously.

"If I win, we take this game back to my bunk." He said confidently, pausing to see her reaction, which was to open her eyes in surprise, smile, and blush. Emboldened, he continued, "If you win, you can d-…" He didn't get to finish his sentence as he was knocked over by another patron of the bar. The man had tripped and fell headlong into Emeric, causing both to spill over into a nearby table and set of chairs in the bar.

Skye jumped in surprise, rushing over to check on the two men. "Emeric! Are you ok?!" she asked quickly. He responded with a groan as he tried to sit up but couldn't because the other man was on top of him. As Skye tried to split the two apart, the man sat up and tried to say something, but before intelligible words could come out of him mouth, puke appeared instead, covering Emeric's chest and stomach.

"Oh my God!" Skye shrieked as she jumped backwards to avoid the spray.

"I'm so sorry…" the man mumbled before collapsing on top of Emeric again. "Get this idiot off of me!" Emeric yelled, trying desperately to get a grip or some kind of leverage in the slippery mess he found himself in.

Several other patrons had now appeared and bodily lifted to man off of him so he could get up from the ground. "Well, I think this is not what I had in mind for tonight." Emeric said in a huff. "I think I'm gonna just go. I'm sorry." He turned before Skye could respond and was walking to the exit and out the door.

"You fucking idiot! What the hell is wrong with you? Gah, I was so close!" She said angrily to the man.

"Ionno…" he slurred. "M' tired…" he continued heavily.

"Ugh, you're disgustingly drunk. What's your name? I'll drag you back to your bunk since I'm going to mine cause you _ruined my damn night._" She said hotly.  
"You're so n-nice.." he slurred again. "Ma friends call me Doug."

"Well Doug, you just ruined my first chance in months to finally... Nevermind..." She lamented but her voice trailed off.

"Ok…" Doug mumbled, clearly not an active member of the conversation. The pair slowly made their way across the complex to the Phoenix Module. After they arrived, Skye had him direct her to his bunk where she deposited him not-so-gently on his bed and stalked off towards her own. As she arrived at her bunk, she was in the process of changing as a smashing sound was heard on her door, like someone was trying to kick it in.

"Skye, please! It's Rachel from navigation! Somethings happened to Phil! There was an explosion next to Cloudsong and he sent me running here for you!" her breathlessness put a terrible sense of urgency on everything she was saying.

In a flash, Skye's weariness was washed away as adrenaline surged through her. She took off shouting, "Maxwell, engage Delta protocol!"

"Immediately, Skye." Came his voice in response. "I beg your pardon Dr. Tsaka, but I must ask you to step outside."

Rachel looked curiously around but complied, leaving the room. As she did, the door slammed shut automatically and a deep chime signaled an AI leaving or entering the room.

Melinda and Lance had just finished their shift at botanical gardens. Both as members of the botanical team had been hired as part of the effort to insure the survival of key species of plant life from Earth. They were discussing different ideas about caring for plants on other planets when they saw two people running at full speed towards an area of the complex where they saw smoke rising from one of the buildings even in the dark, due to how well lit Stormlord kept the grounds for security purposes.

"Mate, that looked like Skye!" Lance blurted out.

"Who?" Melinda asked.

"That girl from the chemical labs I told you about. The pretty one." He said.

"Ah, well, we should probably check it out."

Lance turned to look at her, "Are you normally this bloody calm when a part of the grounds is seemingly on fire?" Without waiting for a response, he turned and sprinted off towards where they were heading.

"Shit happens…" she muttered as she ran towards them, too.


End file.
